VINELAND – Hundreds of tree seedlings are walking out of City Hall with residents today and hopefully right into the local Earth.

Vineland Environmental Commission members Diane Amico, Sue Fenili and John Casadia were set up in City Hall's ground floor lobby when the doors opened.

Business is brisk.

Amico, the commission chairwoman, estimated that close to half of a 1,500-seedling delivery from the New Jersey Division of Forestry was gone by noon. Thirteen varieties are available, including several short-growth trees.

"We're pre-bagging them, so it's like a grab bag of varieties in each bag," Amico said. "The planting instructions are in there. It's first come, first serve."

Whatever is left after today will be up for grabs starting 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Residents are entitled to take up to five different varieties, Amico said.

The distribution is part of the New Jersey Tree Recovery Campaign. The campaign intends to replace trees lost to storm damage in the last several years.

"Their goal on the state level is to give out 500,000 trees over the next few years," Amico said. "So this month, for Arbor Day and for Earth Day, many cities around the state of New Jersey have trees that were given to them under the same program. We're all doing giveaways."